The Secret Life of Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay

Just started dipping into this one.  It’s written in an accessible style whilst still retaining a huge amount of detail and respect for the work that went on at Bletchley.

Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler

I love reading anything about the Brontes, and this novel plunges you into the mind of Charlotte Bronte as she writes her masterpiece.  It’s beautifully written, almost poetic at times, but I found myself wishing she’d delved further into the complete family background rather than just concentrating on the progress of one novel, even though that was the point of the book.  Fleeting glimpses of Emily, Ann and Branwell were just too tantalising.

Surface Detail by Iain M Banks

A triumphant return to space opera from the fantastically depraved mind of Mr Banks.  Pure enjoyment and awe all round.   (And nobody uses the f word better.)

Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James

I love the recent craze for return visits to Jane Austen’s creations and was sure I’d be in safe hands with PD James.  She uses the settings well and I enjoyed the references to characters in the other books, eg Willoughby takes a position working for Mr Eliot from Persuasion.  But I felt the novel lacked emotional substance; the murder victim is a minor character, and does anyone really feel sorry for Willoughby any more?  Darcy and Elizabeth, who should light up every page, seemed shadows of their former selves.

Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton

Imagine Jodi Piccoult crossed with Linwood Barclay and you have Rosamund Lupton – emotionally searing, dramatic, completely compelling; this was a book I couldn’t put down.  (Thanks to my Secret Santa!)  Have made a note to read her first novel Sister.

Snuff by Terry Pratchett

I haven’t started this one yet but I’m looking forward to getting on the back of that turtle!

Hope you are enjoying your Christmas reading too.

Find the details at www.swanwickwritersschool.co.uk.  There is a theme, but perhaps you have existing work that would fit it.  If not, hopefully the thought of a week away at Swanwick will inspire you!  Entry is £5 which is reasonable for a competition of this calibre.

1. Promise that you will give yourself time to write.  Not just when you feel inspired, but a little bit of time each day you can call your own.  If it has to be on the toilet, so be it.
2. Promise you will read as much as you can in the genre you love.  It’s the genre you’re writing in, isn’t it?  If it isn’t, why not?
3. Follow the blogs, twitters and facebook ramblings of your favourite authors.  Social networking means you can get much nearer to the ones you idolise, in a totally non-disturbing way, of course.  Comment on a post, get involved.  Feel part of that world!  Now get down to your own writing with a bit of extra inspiration.
4. Promise you won’t listen to that voice in your head that tells you everything you write is rubbish.  That voice needs to be sent far away.  It’s holding you back and you know it.  Try listening to the other voice, the little faint one which dares to dream.
5. Promise you will find other writers.  They may be virtual or in the flesh.  They could be at a writers’ circle, a writing conference, a talk by an author, or on a forum.  Speaking to people who share your passion will fire yours even more.
6. And finally, promise yourself you will enjoy your writing.  You may get rejections, lose competitions, scrap whole chapters, suffer computer crashes when you haven’t backed up, lack family support or face a dried up well of inspiration.  Find a way to get through it because writing is what you do and what you are.  And it’s wonderful.

Happy Christmas everybody!  Keep writing and submitting and have a great 2012!

In case you are new to Fforde, he writes in four different strands.  The Thursday Next novels – drama and crime in and out of a world of books and an alternative Swindon; the Nursery Crime series – a spin off from Thursday Next concentrating on the nursery rhyme area of the BookWorld; the Last DragonSlayer books (junior Fforde fantasy) and, strangest and most wonderful of all, Shades of Grey, which I can’t even begin to attempt to describe and need to read again at least three times.  To get a flavour of this bizzarre universe, visit the author’s website at www.jasperfforde.com.

I have just finished reading One of Our Thursdays is Missing, the latest adventure of Thursday Next.  In this episode, the real Thursday is missing.  However there are several more.  A series of books based on Thursday’s adventures means that there is also a written Thursday who lives in the BookWorld.   Unlike her namesake, this Thursday is meek and peaceful and only wants to live in her book and entertain the few readers that still bother to drop in.  But events force her into action.  Together with the clockwork Butler and expert cocktail maker Sprockett, the treehugging Thursday must search the Bookworld and the Realworld to find Thursday in time to attend the Council of Genres’ peacetalks with Racy Novel.   A great delight for me in this novel was the remaking of the BookWorld into an island, as you can see in the picture below (click on it to enlarge).  Thursday’s trip up the Metaphoric River on a paddle steamer was a highlight.  I love the Blyton island, Mervyn Peake and Clowns, which is on the border of comedy and horror.  And if you look carefully you can see NaNoWriMo just above the Un-Genred Zone.  Thanks to Jasper for allowing the map to be freely reproduced.  If you want to explore Fiction Island, just jump into the Thursday Next books.  I’ll see you in Speculative Fantasy, North of SF, East of Dickens.

Fforde's Fiction Island

Unfortunately, because WordPress prevent users from inserting Java Script into their blogs, we WordPressians can’t display the full graphic, only a text list.  I’m hoping that will be rectified eventually.  Apparently there is a way to force WordPress to use Java but I can’t get my head round the science.

I’m planning now to record every book I read, tagging them by year read.  And if I see a book I’ve read in the past I’ll add that too.  Being  a Kindle user it will be nice to see books on my bookcase, even if they are virtual ones.

Shelfari can be found at www.shelfari.com.

Welcome screen for Amazon Author Central

If you are a published author, whether by mainstream means, via a small press or through self publishing (paper or electronic), you can set up an Amazon Author page.  This means that when people look at the details of your book they will see your name, photograph and a link to your own area where you can tell your readers more about  yourself and your writing.

As a fairly new venture, Amazon Author Central has had some teething problems with several authors I know of finding it impossible to set up.  I have also had trouble adding books which only appear on the US site.  The concept is still in beta (meaning it’s not fully polished yet and may be subject to further changes.)  It should all be running smoothly soon, though.  Meanwhile I thought I’d post this guide in case it’s of help to anybody.

1. Go to www.authorcentral.amazon.co.uk (www.authorcentral.amazon.com in the US).
2. Click on the Join Author Central button.
3. Enter the email address you use for Amazon and your Amazon account number.  If you aren’t a member of Amazon you will need to join, but you can do that here too.
4. You are now at the Welcome screen.  Click on Author Central Profile.
5. You can now add information to 5 sections: Biography, Events, Photos, Video and Twitter.  To add new information, click the small blue Add prompt at the side of each section.
6. At the top of this page you will see the second tab from the left is called Books.  Click on this.
7. Now click on Add Books.  Amazon will search for books you are credited with, or you can search by title or ISBN.  If you aren’t already linked with that book (for example, if it’s an anthology* and only the editor is listed), Amazon will ask if you would like them to add the book.  They will then check to see if your claim is correct.  It usually takes a few days, and sometimes you need to produce proof (such as a contract or confirmation email).
8. You’ll have to wait a few days now for your page to be updated.
9. You can also use Author Central to check your sales and any customer reviews.  Just click on the blue tabs at the top of the screen.  The Help section is pretty handy too.
10. Here’s my page: www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B003Y57R2M.  Hopefully one day it will be full of books with just my name on the cover!

Unfortunately as far as I understand it Amazon will only credit the first five authors who add the anthology to their author page.  This will hopefully change in the future.

You can see more of Rasoul’s vibrant and enchanting work here.  I love his cartoon of a cat creeping on to its owner’s knee and popping up underneath the newspaper.

Admiring Rasoul’s illustration made me think further on how vital illustrations are to children’s books, especially picture books where the pictures contribute just as much, if not more, than the text.  Who can imagine Maurice Sendak‘s Where the Wild Things are without its distinctive illustrations?  And what would Alice and Winnie the Pooh have been like without Tenniel or EH Shepard?  As picture books merge into apps, creating graphic heavy interactive hybrids like The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Maurice Lessmore, the illustrator can only become even more vital to the creation of great literature for children.

Fangtales - coming out in October 2011 from Wyvern Publications

I am thrilled to be included in the latest Young Adult anthology from Wyvern Publications, coming out in October 2011.  I’ve just been sent a pdf of the cover, shown here, and it looks fabulous.  Wyvern are aiming to produce a new ‘tales’ anthology regularly; Mertales and Dragontales were the first.  Vampires are as popular as ever at the moment due to the talents of current authors like Stephanie Meyer, Darren Shan and LJ Smith – and of course the brilliant Anne Rice.  The editor of Fangtales requested traditional vampires rather than the shimmering, sensitive types so with Fangtales you are asssured of vampire fiction with a bite.  I can’t wait to read the other stories – and of course dress up in some vampire togs for the launch!

I have also typed the notes up as a tickable checklist, so if you would like to print this off (and tinker with it to suit you) please download as a Word document by clicking on the link below.

DOWNLOAD REDRAFTING CHECKLIST

REDRAFTING YOUR WORK

(notes from Jude Evans’ seminar at Winchester Writers’ Conference 2 July 2011)

Put away your book for 2 weeks!  Now re-read.

FIRST REACTIONS
Does the mood and atmosphere come through strongly?
Are the characters convincing?
Does the writing flow?
What are the best bits?

Read again, this time with your red editing pen!  Be objective and break down the prose to look at it from different angles.

PLOT
Draw out a diagram/timeline of your plot and look at the narrative pace, the highs and the lows.
Is your plot watertight and logical?

OPENING
Does it compel the reader to continue?  What is the hook?
What can the reader identify with?
What makes it special?
Is it immediate?  Will the reader feel dropped in to the scene?
Use economy – don’t weigh down with explanation.

ENDING
Will it make the reader remember the book?
Does it make the reader feel the way you planned, eg inspired/shocked?
Use economy – don’t weigh down with tying up loose ends.
Does the resolution work?
Imagine a scene as a film – have you described enough to make it real?  If not consider adding movement or detail to bring it to life.

UNIQUE SELLING POINT
Research your market – look in Amazon, bookshops and libraries.
What are people talking about online, eg forums, mumsnet?
What is your strength?
Will your book sit well in publishers’ lists?  (If not, is it special enough to make it even though it’s different?)

WHAT IS YOUR BOOK ABOUT
Can you capture it in a few sentences?
Why would a child want to read it?
Is the message clear?

CHARACTERS
Are they memorable, individual and real?
Do they have quirks, attitude, humour?
Is their dialogue natural, eg own turns of phrase?
Do they behave true to character, not as slaves to the plot?

DESCRIPTION
Imagine a scene as a film – have you described enough to make it real?
Is the reader experiencing events as vividly as possible?
Is the description a high point, or dry and flat?
Are you showing, not telling?

STYLE/AUTHOR VOICE
Is it suitable for your audience?
Is it consistent?
Does it communicate what you planned?  (NB  Don’t worry about this when you are in the flow of writing – think about style and tone afterwards.)

PACE
Have you leapt straight into the story?  Are the hooks early enough?
Is there enough action or intensity?

SETTING/CONTEXT
Do you make clear the time of day/year?
…the country or place you are in?
…the place in history?
Is the world believable and real?
Are you drip feeding or doing an information dump?

AUDIENCE
Is it suitable for the age group in its
…length
…structure
…tone
…topic
…interest level
…reading level?
What makes it appeal?
Have you immersed yourself in their culture?

READ
Are you reading and analysing the work of others in your field?

CUTTING
Cut out anything that doesn’t contribute to the plot.
Are any characters or scenes taking the reader down a cul-de-sac?

BE OBJECTIVE
Read it aloud.
Discuss the plot with someone.  Can you describe it clearly?
Write yourself an editor’s review letter.
Write a synopsis – it acts as a mirror to your plot.
Get feedback on the synopsis from a friend – does it appeal?
Write a blurb.

Put the manuscript aside for 2 weeks.

Repeat until your book is the best it can be!